T h e

Tiger Hi-LineVolume 48 Edition 1 http://hi-lineonline.shorturl.com 1015 Division Street, Cedar Falls, Iowa 50613

Arlene FreudenbergStaff Writer

Math teacher Dirk Homewood trains for success not only by preparing his students with math skills, but by pre-paring himself for the Olympic trials.

Homewood, currently 25 years old, has been running since seventh grade.

“This has been my dream for eight years. This is my year. If I don’t make it this year, I’m done,” Homewood said.

Homewood participated in the 2004 Olympic trials and with utter disap-pointment, just missed his chance of making his long-term dream a reality.

“I took 32nd, and they took the first 28, so I missed the cut by four people. I’ve been training for three years, so this year is my best chance of win-ning,” Homewood said.

Even though he missed his chance in 2004, Homewood never gave up. He kept training and believing in himself in hope that one day his goal would come true.

“I am very competitive [while run-ning]. It’s you against the clock. I’m just trying to run the perfect race,” he said.

Homewood has not given up on

himself or his aspirations, even when incidents challenge him on whether he would make it or not.

“I tore a hamstring during a world tour. I tore it while running a race in California,” Homewood said.

Still, Homewood’s dedication and persistence has pushed him to the top of his game. He has made running more than a hobby. He’s made it a lifestyle.

“I went professional in 2005. I signed with Reebok, and I travel to Eu-rope in the summer,” Homewood said. “When I travel on the weekends in the U.S. for competitions, I leave Friday evenings, run on Saturday and fly back on Sunday.”

Although Homewood is new to teaching at Cedar Falls High School, he is no stranger to the building. In 2001, he graduated from the very same class-rooms with an outstanding 4.0 GPA.

“It’s weird to be in the Cedar Falls hallways again, but it’s comfortable. The Cedar Falls community is so wel-coming,” he said.

Even with his amazing high school track record, Homewood was not a highly recruited track athlete. In fact, UNI was the only college willing to take a chance on the hometown 400-meter runner.

“It was one of those inner drive things. I had broken a school record, and I was third fastest in the state of Iowa,” Homewood said.

“I already knew I wanted to go to UNI on an academic scholarship, so not being highly recommended wasn’t that big of a deal, but I tried out for the team and look what happened.”

Graduating from UNI in 2005, Homewood left his college life behind with a major in mathematics educa-tion.

“Just like running, math is a chal-lenge. I excelled in math and believe I have a lot to offer. I care for the kids,” he said.

Having an Olympic trainee as your math teacher is definitely a rare treat.

“I think it’s pretty cool having an Iowa guy from UNI and CFHS train-ing for it. It’s cool getting the chance to get to know him,” sophomore Emily Hester said.

“I think it’s awesome. He’s a player. He’s training for the Olympics, and he came back to CF to teach. I’m surprised girls aren’t following him around in awe,” sophomore Tyler Damm said.

As Homewood circles around each track, the math teacher hopes his train-ing will result in an Olympic moment.

Going for Gold: New teacher prepares for 2008 Olympic trials

Meet the other new fulltime CFHS team additionsMath teacher and Olympic prospect Dirk Homewood

David Bergstrom Photo

Anna Danforth French

Josh CarnelleyCounselor

Thresa RugglesCounselor

Gunda Brost German

CFHS Football player

Exacting revenge on Iowa City West for their only regular season loss last year, sophomore Matthew Moody and the Tigers defeated the Trojans last Friday. See the var-sity story on the Sports page.

“This is my second year working as a guidance counselor for high school students. When I was in high school I was a cheerleader, ran track and was in school-sponsored gymnastics.”

“This is my fourth year as a guidance counselor. When I was in high school I played football and ran track.”

“I have been teaching three weeks, and I substituted for a semester. I jogged a lot and I was involved in rugby, soccer, rock-climbing and journalism.”

“I was in theater, orchestra, art club and yearbook. I have been teaching for six years.”

our viewour view

Tiger Hi-Line

T h e OPInIOnOPInIOn

I sat in my living room, eating cookies and idly pay-ing attention to the flash-ing box in the middle of the room, when suddenly, inside the box, a dark-haired man in a white button-up shirt and black tie descended from the ceiling in a harness, a fortunate-looking blonde in a similar harness following. I could only wonder what this was, and I was soon greeted with the words, “Chuck: Saving the World at $11 an hour.” Any normal person would only say, “Oh, good, another crime show. At least it’s not reality.”

Today in the world of television, it seems crime, comedy and reality are winners. But is it possible that all we know will be changing this fall? The public’s need to pry into other’s lives is now replaced. Twisted up-and-com-ing writers’ comedic views of ordinary lives are now taking center stage in America. Here are my top five picks for success and failure as I suspect America will view them.

First for success, I nominate Chuck a series about a nerd working at a Best Buy-like store who accidentally becomes involved with government secrets and becomes a spy. It has a catchy ad and seems like it wouldn’t be a completely mind-numbing experience. It appears to be a witty show (“Only nerds can drive the nerd mobile”) and would be a nice escape from reality. Nerds, geeks and dorks alike, also, are “in;” The hit summer movie Superbad about nerds in high school was #1 at the box office. Chuck airs Mondays at 7 p.m. on NBC start-ing Sept. 24.

Not surprisingly, CBS also has a new show featuring nerds. The Big Bang Theory is about a group of nerds trying to figure out women. It seems to be a smart, sarcastic show with famil-

iar actors like Johnny Galecki (Rose-anne) that I definitely wouldn’t miss. The Big Bang Theory airs Mondays at 7:30 p.m. on CBS beginning Sept. 24.

Also on NBC is Life, an hour-long (surprise) crime-drama on a cop who was framed for a crime, put in jail and then let out again. America loves crime, and Life will give it a new, interesting twist. Life airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. on NBC beginning Sept. 26.

ABC’s Private Practice is from the creator of America’s favorite medical series, Grey’s Anatomy. All you hear these days is about the attractive doc-tors McSteamy and McDreamy, and I wouldn’t doubt that Private Practice (whose main character is directly from Grey’s) will be as big of a hit, partially because Private Practice is a spinoff of Grey’s about a doctor who moves to L.A. Private Practice airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on ABC starting Sept. 26.

Deciding the final pick for a hit this fall was challenging; each new show had a drawback, but I finally reached the conclusion that Moonlight may have a chance with America. It’s cheesy, yes; a vampire investiga-tor, but it may have enough draw and quirk to keep us interested. It also has an interesting adverstisement: an inter-view with the vamp. Moonlight airs on Fridays at 8 p.m. on CBS beginning Sept. 28.

Choosing what shows would fail was easy. ABC’s pitiful attempts at en-tertainment almost forces me to laugh. Others slightly angered me, for I knew these quality shows wouldn’t last in mainstream America.

It looks like ABC did turn out a few good shows, like Dirty, Sexy, Money. Unfortunatley, the new series about a rich, troublesome family and their lawyer doesn’t seem like something every house wife would want to sit down and watch. It appears to be smart and risqué; possibly too much so for modern America. Dirty, Sexy, Money airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on CBS, beginning Sept. 26.

Another ABC show making my “flop” list is Big Shots. Supposedly, it’s supposed to portray what average men talk about—except for the fact that rich, “big shot” men aren’t aver-

age. It just seems redundant—no one will get hooked on this. Big Shots airs on ABC Thursdays at 9 p.m. on ABC, beginning Sept. 27.

Kid Nation is a reality series about kids who are in a town with no adults. Can we say Lord of the Flies? This is also redundant—we already know what’s going to happen here. America is also getting sick of reality rotting our minds.

Viva Laughlin is musical television. No, I’m not talking about MTV. This show is like a Broadway musical right in your own home. It actually could have some merit, but I doubt main-stream America will pick up on it. It does have, however, an impeccable cast list including Hugh Jackman and Melanie Griffith. Viva Laughlin airs Sundays at 8 p.m., beginning Oct. 21 on CBS.

Bionic Woman is a spinoff of the original series, about a woman who is now, thanks to an accident, half-robot. Sorry, it’s not just going to be a spinoff, it’s going to be a terrible spinoff. I doubt it will even make it through one season, and that America will want to watch cheesy CGI on a poorly acted, angry woman flailing around for an hour; 10 minutes would be more than enough. Bionic Woman airs on NBC.

Fall TelevisionBrings mixed bag of possibilities

Maggie DevineStaff Writier

Write the Tiger Hi-LineThe Tiger Hi-Line is a weekly publication of the journalism classes

of Cedar Falls High School, 1015 Division St., Cedar Falls, Iowa 50613. Each edition is published on Wenesdays during the school year in The Insider and Waterloo/Cedar Falls Courier, 501 Commercial St., Waterloo, Iowa 50701.

Columns and letters do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Hi-Line or Cedar Falls Schools. The Hi-Line editorial staff view is presented weekly in the editorial labeled as Our View.

Reader opinions on any topic are welcome and should be sent to the Tiger Hi-Line staff or delivered to room 208. All letters must be signed. Letters must be submitted by 3 p.m. on Thursday for publication the fol-lowing Wednesday. Letters may not exceed 300 words and may be edited to meet space limitations. Include address and phone number for verifica-tion.

Editorial StaffEditor-in-Chief: Briana McGeough

News Editors: Olivia Schares and Kellie PetersenOpinion Editors: Andrea Huber and Torie Jochims

Sports Editor: Jacqueline JordanFeature Editors: Honor Heindl and Briana McGeough

On-Line Editors: Ellen Wrede and Olivia ScharesEntertainment Editor: Kristen Hammer

Photography Editor: Honor Heindl

With saddened hearts, staff and students at Cedar Falls High School said good-bye this summer to beloved French teacher Lisa Hunemuller (Madame H.). After battling breast cancer for many years, she passed away early in July of this year. Her funeral and visitation were highly attended.

Madame Hunemuller passed her passionate love of the French language and culture on to her students. She felt it was of utmost importance that students be immersed in the French culture in order to more fully appreciate the language.

She delighted in taking her students to France on many trips over her years as a teacher. “She cherished every moment in France with her students,” French teacher Mellissa Breddin said.

Madame Hunemuller always attended the school’s plays and loved music. She and her husband participated in various music groups in the community. Her faith was an immense part of her life. She always spoke very lovingly of her three children and five grandchildren. Madame Hunemuller should serve as an inspiration to everyone facing difficult times in their lives. She always remained level-headed and never seemed to pity herself. She simply confronted what she was facing head-on. “She is the strongest woman I have ever known. She never gave up,” Breddin said. Madame Hunemuller, nous ne vous oublierons jamais. (We will never forget you.)

French teacher’s legacy carries on in students

CBSViva Laughlin: 8 p.m. Sundays starting Oct. 21Kid Nation: 8 p.m. Wednesdays start-ing Sept. 19Moonlight: 8 p.m. Fridays starting Sept. 28Big Bang Theory: 7:30 p.m. Mondays starying Sept. 24Dirty, Sexy, Money: 8 p.m. Wednesdays starting Sept. 26

ABCPrivate Practice: 8 p.m. Wednesdays starting Sept. 26Big Shots: 9 p.m. Thursdays starting Sept. 27

NBCChuck: 7 p.m. Mondays starting Sept. 24Life: 9 p.m. Wednesdays starting Sept. 26Bionic Woman: 8 p.m. Wednesdays starting Sept. 26

Volume 47 Edition 24 http://hi-lineonline.shorturl.com 1015 Division Street, Cedar Falls, Iowa 50613

Tiger Hi-Line SPORTSSPORTST h e

Football off to strong 2-0 start

Matt Hart Staff Writer

In late September and early October, what’s left of baseball is usually the Major League pennant races and the World Series, but some Tiger baseball players are gearing up for another sea-son of UNI head baseball coach Rick Heller’s Wood Bat League.

The Wood Bat League has about 24 to 26 high school baseball players that will be participating in the league this year.

“My goal is for the players to go out and play on their own and have fun,” head baseball coach Jack Sole said.

Even though Sole is not helping coach the two teams that the kids are split up into, he said, “The games are

still fun to watch.”Last year’s Wood Bat League was

fun for players, but coach Sole em-phasized that while last year’s teams seemed to be enthusiastic about the league, they were not as enthusiastic about the learning.

“I think the thing we need to do this year is take it a little more seriously,” Sole said.

There are no required practices, although some of the players’ fathers organize a couple practices during the year. There are seven games on seven consecutive Sundays starting Sept. 9 this year.

The games range from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., so it’s a wide range of game times. The Wood Bat League has no championship game at the end of the

season.Even though it’s a little early for

next summer’s high school baseball season, Sole still had some comments on this upcoming year.

“I think we’ll improve from last year’s team, even though we took ad-vantage of little situations and did some good things last year,” Sole said

The 2007 Tigers had a disappointing

year having their first losing season in five years, but Sole said he hopes the talent of his youth will bring the pro-gram back to its usual success.

“Our sophomore class is exception-al,” Sole said. “We had three sopho-mores start on our team last year in Jeff Conrad, Jake Farley and Andrew Wirth. I feel that this year there will be a few more sophomores who will put some pressure on some upperclassmen.”

The Mississippi Valley Conference will be tough as always this year, but Sole predicts a few stand-out teams will be Iowa City High and Cedar Rap-ids Kennedy.

Sole said, “Our league is good from top to bottom, and it doesn’t matter who you’re playing on any given day. You’re going to have a battle.”

Alex EntzStaff Writer

The football team is currently ranked third in the state after an en-couraging season opener at Dubuque Senior and follow-up thrashing of Iowa City West.

Coach Pat Mitchell and the rest of the Tiger football program are pumped.

“We had a good start at Dubuque Senior,” Mitchell said. “We’re really excited for the season.” The Tigers were also excited about their resounding 35-0 victory over the rival Iowa City West Trojans. Head-lined by an extremely tough defense and a Kyle Bernard longbomb, the Ti-gers rolled to a 2-0 start.

Cedar Falls is rebounding well from a heartbreaking loss to Cedar Rapids Xavier in the quarterfinals last year. They finished the season at 9-2, with one of those losses coming at the hands of Iowa City West.

“Of course we were disappointed,” team leader and star linebacker Landan Zaputil said of last year’s early tourna-ment exit. “Anyone would be to go so far just to end up falling short due to injuries.”

Cedar Falls is banking on a tough defense that Coach Mitchell hopes will

be able to stop the conference’s new emphasis on passing.

In face of the conference’s new challenges Coach Mitchell seemed op-timistic. “Our goal is to rush and cover

and try to intercept it,” Mitchell said. He pointed to reformed offenses such as Waterloo East and Iowa City High as potential passing threats.

Despite Mitchell’s optimism, he

acknowledges that his team has weak-nesses and strengths.

“I think our main weakness is our inexperience,” Mitchell said. “Our main strength has to be our defense, in particular our three main linebackers.”

Mitchell is referring to Jeff Hanson, Landon Zaputil and Wes Grapp. They are the proverbial Big Three that Mitch-ell is leaning on to anchor his team.

“I just go out and play my best,” Zaputil said. “There’s nothing you can really say to that.”

As for season predictions, both Mitchel and Zaputil were quite elu-sive.

“We have five goals,” Mitchell said. He outlined the first four as getting ev-eryone in the Fit to Hit program, get-ting through the preseason, winning a game and winning a game on the road. “Now all we have to do is win in the Dome,” he concluded.

Mitchell claimed that the farthest he ever looks ahead is to the fist play of the next game, while Zaputil was de-cidedly humble.

“I have no predictions,” Zaputil said. “But hopefully we’ll go 9-0 and go on to State.”

Cedar Falls (2-0) will be at Dubuque Wahlert (1-1) on 7:05 p.m. on Sept. 14.

Football (2-0)beat Iowa City West 35-0Next Up: Dub. Wahlert 9/14 (Away 7:30 p.m.)Men’s Cross Countryfinished second at Bobcat InviteNext Up: Rich Engel Classic (Birdsall Park, 4:30 p.m.)Women’s Cross Countryfinished third at the Bobcat InviteNext Up: Rich Engel Classic, (Birdsall Park, 4:30 p.m.)Women’s Swimmingbeat Cedar Rapids JeffersonNext Up: Dub. Wahlert 9/14 (Away 7:30 p.m.)Volleyballlost to East 2-3Next Up: Dub. Wahlert 9/14 (Away 7:30 p.m.)Men’s Golfplaced second at Metro MeetNext Up: Dub. Wahlert 9/14 (Away 7:30 p.m.)

Tigersin Action

“My goal is for the players to go out and play on their own and

have fun.” —Jack Sole

Head Baseball coach

Baseball players polish skills in off-season contestsWood Bat League

Preparing for a runback at the game against Iowa City West on Friday at the Dome are junior Blake Davis and senior Michael Schindel. The Tigers dominated the Trojans, 35-0.

Honor Heindl Photo

1. Why were you picked for top performer of the week?

I ran pretty well at Marshalltown last Thursday.

2. Whose your favorite athlete/ role model?

Coach Becker. He’s positive and he inspires me every day.

3. What are you expecting for the Rich Engel Classic this year?

We’re going to dominate this year.

4. How did you do previous years?

Last year was my first year, and I just had fun and got better as the season went on.

Jonathan Henningsjunior cross

country runner

Athleteof

the Week

OPInIOn Tiger Hi-Line FEATUREFEATURET h e

Artistic Expression

Nadia HonaryStaff Writer

The UNI museum’s feature exhibit will take a different turn as they include the “local with the global.” Kim Taylor, the collections manager for the UNI Museum, is excited for this exhibit be-cause it differentiates from past exhib-its. The Body Art: Adornment Across Cultures exhibit will be on display from Sept. 10 to Dec. 28.

The exhibit not only covers the many cultural traditions around the world, it also includes different tattoo, piercing and hair braiding shops in the Cedar Falls and Waterloo area.

“It’s a big thing because of the local section added in the exhibit. It shows that we are part of the world culture,” Taylor said.

The exhibit will include Peru, the Amazon, Japan, New Zealand, New Guinea, Borneo, Burma and the Mesk-waki tribe, which is a Native American tribe from Iowa. The local section of the exhibit will highlight the differenc-

es in traditions around the world. “We all have different concepts of

beauty. Something ugly to us can be beautiful to another culture,” Romney Hall, Public Affairs Coordinator for the UNI Museum, adds.

The body art in North America holds different meanings than those in Africa. Western civilization has utilized body art from other cultures and changed it into something of their own.

“The gauges and the tattoos are used more to mark occasions in their life, or significant events, but for the African countries, it’s more about the rituals,” Taylor said.

Among the different cultures of Af-rica, body art is more than just an ar-tistic expression; it is an effort at con-sersving their heritage.

“For a lot of those African tribes, it’s mostly about keeping the tradition alive. It’s about preserving their cul-ture,” Hall said.

There are cultural differences be-tween American and Japanese tattoos .

“While the Japanese have one big

tattoo that tell a single story, which often times covers the whole body, Americans are more like patchwork; each tattoo signifying different events and symbols, showing your personal life history,” Taylor said.

Today, tattoos and body art are now more of a fad than anything else, which is a big change compared to America’s views on body art 20 years ago.

“Twenty years ago, you would as-sociate the tattoos with the biker guys, or the rebellious guys. It was more of a negative connotation. Today, it is more widely recognized as a cultural and artistic expression. It’s more main-stream,” Taylor said.

The exhibit covers over 20 different cultures and traditions, from Chinese foot binding, to African scarification, to the neck rings on the Burmese women.

An opening celebration and per-formance for the exhibit will be held at the University Museum at 6 p.m., and the performance will be held at the Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center at 7:30 p.m.

Museum displays body art from diverse world cultures Photographs from Body Art:

Adornment Across Cultures

From top to bottom: Scarification practices are used by Murci, an Ethiopian tribe, to represent important life events. Women’s scars relate to fertility and birth, whereas for men the scars represent their exploits as a

hunter and warrior.

The lines on this Peruvian woman’s face are the lyrics of a song. To read the song, members of her tribe con-

sume hallucinogenic drugs.

Briana McGeough photos

Student playwright expresses self through dramaKatie Moore

Staff Writer

Monica Reida is a playwright. She’s also only 15 years old and a junior at Cedar Falls High School.

Reida’s semi-historical play, “Life After Death,” is her first full-length play and one of her most serious works.

“It’s a very dramatic and depressing play, and because of that, I think that someone who isn’t mature enough to deal with the subject matter couldn’t sit through it,” Reida said regarding her decision not to present her work to her peers.

Ironically, Reida focuses her pieces on struggling young women who face a lot of the same problems teenage girls face now. Reida’s “Life after Death” takes place four years after the death

of June Diluian’s father. Because of her hatred of Americans, June’s mother is the only other person informed of his murder. June’s father was killed as an act of anti-immigrant violence, and the shame June feels leads to the point of a mental collapse for the girl.

At first read, the girl may seem like a place to lay sympathy, but Reida ad-mits that the relationship she has with her characters is one of love and hate.

“I constantly wanted to spit every time I read her lines, and I hated the character of the mum. Also, June isn’t a loveable character, but I don’t despise her.”

Whether professional or personal, Reida walks a fine line between the role of children’s playwright and becoming a serious author. In the past, Reida has used her Language Arts Enrichment se-

mester project to produce a light-heart-ed adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s “The Wolves in the Walls,” but outside of grade requirements, she has produced the dark comedy “Isobel” showcas-ing her writing style. However, Reida is working on this play independently, so the gap between her wallet and her dreams is vast. “Bake sale, anyone?” she joked.

Despite her criticisms coming sole-ly from others involved in theater, fa-milial or not, Reida expects “Life Af-ter Death” to be performed by around this time next year. Reida has come full circle in the Waterloo Community Playhouse, originally doing backstage work as a child and then acting with the casts that she says truly crafted her art, to now being able to give back to the actors that mean so much to her.